Voices from Tripoli

Residents of Libya's capital speak to Al Jazeera about the country's problems and hopes for a post-Gaddafi future.

On condition of anonymity, Tripoli residents expressed their hopes for a post-Gaddafi Libya

Throughout the uprising in Libya, Tripoli has been a near blackhole for independent information. Longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi and his associates have waged a propaganda campaign on state television, broadcasting nearly continuous images of celebrating residents cheering Gaddafi, waving the country's green flag and hoisting decades-old pictures of the leader in his trademark military uniform and aviator sunglasses.

Foreign journalists in the city have been mostly confined to their hotels, and when they're allowed out, government minders and security forces have succeeded almost without fail in preventing them from talking to anyone who might voice a critical opinion.

But Al Jazeera has managed to find voices of opposition in the capital. These residents agreed to speak to their friends on camera and provide the footage for broadcast, provided they were not identified. Here are their thoughts.

"They responded with weapons, killings, and bullets"

A man and a woman describe the strange feeling of praying for the pilot who's bombing your country, why so few Tripoli residents are willing to speak publicly against Gaddafi, and the unlikely prospect of tribal war should the regime fall.

"Wait until we come out"

A woman walking through the city's central Green Square says it might seem like many people support the regime but that the majority of people are fighting for "freedom," "dignity" and a future without Gaddafi. Elsewhere, a man sitting in front of the opposition's adopted flag says he and others are waiting "minute by minute" for the rebels to arrive.

"This country is devoid of the fundamental institutions"

A man describes the services, common in almost all developed nations, that Libyans have lacked during Gaddafi's rule: basic medicines such as the flu vaccine, centralised sewage networks, and postal addresses, among others. "What's coming [after Gaddafi] will always be better," says the man with the opposition flag.

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